Phalen is an air pollution researcher at the Irvine campus of the University of California. He's been in that field for a long time, so one would assume that he should know what he's talking about. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case.

Phalen has said that children need irritants in the air, so their lungs learn how to ward them off. Much as Mithridates VI, King of Pontus, is said to have taken small amounts of various poisons to build up an immunity to them, the EPA's latest appointment to the gutted advisory board says children need pollution to be healthy.

At least he knows he's off the wall. He told the AAAS "My most important role in science is causing trouble and controversy".

So, if you're a Trump supporter, how much pollution are you willing to expose your children to, in order to keep them "healthy"? How many parents in the central valley with children who have asthma are willing to let the air get dirtier? Trump won the valley by a handy margin, and now the chickens are coming home to roost. That isn't cackling and cock-a-doodle-doo you hear, that's the sound of your children coughing. But don't worry, it's good for them. Robert Phalen, Scott Pruitt, and Donald Trump say so.